Watchtower

I propose that we build a watchtower on the hill that lies between our town/castle and the south coast of Cirdastan. Its crest, which is higher than the 150' contour line, is 12 miles from the town and 9 miles from the southern coast. Its occupants would be able to spot ships and land-based contingents approaching from the southwest, and the tower would be in view of the town.

It needn't be a tower, per se: the hill already provides the altitude. It could be a log cabin. A stable would be useful to permit watchmen to ride swiftly to town or facilitate scouts dispatched to investigate suspicious activity.

I've devised a simple signalling system to reduce the chance of the watchtower being captured without our knowledge (the resulting false sense of security would be worse than not having a watchtower in the first place):

Messaging protocol: Continual light is cast on a 50-lb. lead weight, which is suspended by a cord and held in a ceiling recess just above a town-facing window. A piece of light-proof cloth is stretched across the recess opening to keep the beacon from being seen in the absence of a message. The cord passes up into the attic and by means of pulleys extends across and down to the SW side of the main room (the main observation window would face SW). The on-duty watchman stands on a loose plank laid flush with the floor just below this window. The cord would be fixed to this trigger plank, and the watchman's mass would keep it down. Perhaps a chair or a stool could be provided. If there are sudden intruders, or if suspicious activity is spotted , the watchman would step off the plank, causing the beacon to drop into view, where it would be seen in town.

Personnel: There would be at least two watchmen awake in the tower at all times; the second would allow the first to take breaks. We'd disallow objects weighing more than 50 lb. in the main room in order to prevent lazy watchmen from rigging the beacon in place, and we'd have to ensure that the cord couldn't be easily clamped where it emerged from the ceiling hole above the SW window. Finally, there'd be disciplinary consequences for artificially rigging the apparatus in place.

I agree we need addtional warning of attacks, I know we talked about a tower earlier, roughly in the same location (its marked on my big map, I'll show you Sunday), I think so far its just a couple of guys on a hill with a lean too and a massive bonfire ready to spark, I'm game to improve it, send out their familes and make it a hamlet with a real keep.

I nominate Mopar Lord of the Souther Marches with authority to protect the realm as he sees fit. To design, staff and manage our defenses along that coast to the river ARRGGGg (or what ever its called.)

I call the council of Cirdastan to vote on the appointment

Rild votes aye!

Soloman - abstains by his absence

As we still have one of the prefab forts that can be moved from the temple site once a real tower is built, I would suggest we rebuild it at the big ford we battled at, and then dredge the other fords to make them impratical. This will give us some level of control into our penisula, we can aways make it more permanent later when the town walls and temple castle are complete. Nice place for a section of horse bow, fight from the walls or exit and harrass and force moving past the fort.

Since Harcourt is not one of the founders and has no stake on the big town or country we could appoint him Lord Harcourt of Battleford, sign over a couple thousand acres for his own use and a couple thousand more that he can use for settler bait.

Which are you ordering the costal watch tower or the defence structure at Battleford?

Draw what you want, if its anything beyond the prefab fort (which was an 80 x 80 palisade minus any real buildings within) and I'll supply the price from the castle guild.

Do you plan on moving exiting troops to the fort (if we are talking fort) or bringing in new?

_________________Characters

Sadech of GreyHawk via the Bandit Kingdoms - time traveler, warrior for good, war criminal, bootleggerRild , The bandit rild, The Dread Bandit Rild, The Dread Paladin Rild Sir Rild of Cirdastan , co founder of Cirdastan and Defender of CirdaKubera- a wild guyValdir Winterwind, boutique elf in the land of the square sea

Harcourt this is your chance to buy into the big dream that is Cirdastan.

Do you want to go the Battleford route? or do you wish to be king of the mafia?or do you have some other angle you wish to pursue?

If you do not wish the Battleford thing we could draft Libram to make better use of his retirement. As a forward base for his ranging and the patrols by Orc's bane, Battleford makes sense and the DM can just dip into his portion of the Cirda loot.

As Cirdastan grows I think Libram might appreciate a more rural, quiet setting provided he gets to take some of his whores with him.

_________________Characters

Sadech of GreyHawk via the Bandit Kingdoms - time traveler, warrior for good, war criminal, bootleggerRild , The bandit rild, The Dread Bandit Rild, The Dread Paladin Rild Sir Rild of Cirdastan , co founder of Cirdastan and Defender of CirdaKubera- a wild guyValdir Winterwind, boutique elf in the land of the square sea

When I saw the heading in the portal crawl, I thought at first that this was something about the Jehovah's Witnesses. Let me know what the final decision is and I'll make a not e of construction times/costs.

Carrow also needs a quiet, unpopulated area. From my map, we chose an area to the west of the keep and temple. I want to make sure there is no overlap with other party members. I'm also thinking of taking the higher ground 2 1/2 miles west of the location I chose. I need to go over what saplings and trees Carrow received from his trip to Selene.

Is someone taking the duckblind and building a keep? It is a good place, and would command the whole river valley.